Today, when it seems that new DAC chips from well-known manufacturers come out in a day, and devices with them are announced 2-3 times a day, it is useful sometimes to stop and look into the past. The "Golden Age" of audio equipment gave us a lot of interesting things, for example, the TDA chips from Philips, and today I will tell you about the portable DAC made on the TDA1305.
In general, this DAC from AKS leaves an amazing feeling, on the one hand, it is small, smaller than many modern "tops", but at the same time it can develop power to almost 2 watts. It does not support any fancy high-definition formats, but it works with all devices without drivers. Add to this a good working time and an adequate price tag, at the time of review, the price of DAC1305P on the official website is $ 220.
Specifications
- DAC: TDA1305
- OU: LT1886
- Output Power: ~ 2W @ 25Ω
- Output current: 300mA
- Output voltage: ± 4V @ 25Ω
- Total Harmonic Distortion: 0.003%
- Signal to noise ratio: 108 dB
- Output Impedance: 0.1Ω
- Input: USB Audio Class 1
- Maximum resolution: 16 bit, 44.1 / 48 kHz
- Operating time per charge: ~ 8 hours
- Charging time: ~ 4 hours
- Weight: 125g
- Dimensions: 80 mm × 54 mm × 23 mm
Design and management
It is packaged with a minimalist, but reliable enough - a regular cardboard box with ribbed foam rubber inside will certainly protect the device from any adversity. The package includes the DAC itself and ... that's it. In principle, this is enough, and MicroUSB-laces can be bought anywhere.
The first thing that captivates in this device is its small size. It is, of course, a little thicker than a typical modern player, but the rest is even smaller than most of them. The body is traditionally made of black aluminum, all the controls are located on the front and back sides.
Ahead is the volume control, it is analog, but a good potentiometer is used without imbalance of channels and noise during rotation. Next comes the gain switch and the headphone jack (of course, 3.5 mm). On the back panel there is a power switch, two LED indicators (work and battery charge) and two microUSB ports. Each of them can be used to connect to the device, but one will charge the DAC from the USB power, the second will not. "Clean" input is logical to use with different smartphones and players, for which it is important to save battery power, and one that with charging - it is more convenient when working with a PC. In principle, you can use two wires at the same time: one for charging, the second for data.
The operating time of the AKS1305P in my test was 7 hours and 50 minutes, and it was charged in 4 hours 10 minutes, the results are not phenomenal, but generally sufficient for daily use.
Sound
The following equipment was used for listening.
- Apple MacBook Pro Retina 2016 as a source
- in the role of player
- Headphones: Meze 99 Classics, Audio Zenith PMx2, Noble Kaiser Encore, Campfire Audio Andromeda and others
- High Definition Records in Lossless-formats (Dr. Chesky The Ultimate Headphone Demonstration Disc and others)
Of course, the TDA1305 is no longer a pure "multibit", but one of the first microcircuits using hybrid technology (roughly speaking, a mixture of "multi-bit" and delta-sigma), but the AKS1305P took the best of what is loved in Philips solutions and maximized I tried to brighten up the shortcomings. This device offers a driving feed with accented attacks on the lower half of the frequency range and slightly smoothed HF.
The bass is slightly highlighted here, but this is not done with the help of an increase in the frequency response, but with the help of a certain increase in the macrocontrast of this range. Roughly speaking, the blows sound like shock, slapping - flopping, and so on. If you draw analogies with photography, it looks like the winding of the filter "saturation" - the color balance is the same, but the colors become more expressive. The resolution of the LF is still good, although not prohibitive, and the power reserve allows you to control most of the headphone models without problems. Working out the textures at a decent level, although it does not give an ideal separation of the lowercase instruments of the DAC, it offers a slightly merged feed, however, for many styles this is perceived as a more natural sound.
The midrange range is based on "efficiency". It is the maximum expressiveness of emotions and drive - the ridge of this device. To do this, AKS slightly smoothes the microns, but emphasizes the emotions and macrodynamics of the recording, maximally trying to convey the integrity of the work, without dividing it into smaller parts. For fans of audiophile "listening to the breath," it does not fit, but fans of vigorous styles and enjoying the melody entirely this model is "what the doctor prescribed." The imaginary scene is about the average width, but with a good separation of instruments, the depth is slightly less than average, the plans are given a little merged, this is the manner of the "combine".
The HF band, on the one hand, sounds somewhat simplistic, on the other - many will like it. There is no perfectly clear attacking, there is no "layering" provided by impeccable damping, all this is the fate of top-of-the-art modern solutions. But this kid is quite well cope with HF and definitely have to go to the court of fans of non-aggressive HF, especially since the overall detail and the amount of "top" here is quite normal.
Many comparisons in this review I will not paint, still portable CA amplifiers are not the most common phenomenon today, but speaking roughly - the AKS is a bit like 600 series HiFiMan (with a good mod that corrects the "features" of the players) and is not very similar to something other.
MyST PortaDAC OCUB 1866 . To my taste, AKS is an example of how you can implement a similar concept of sound, but right. 1305 also slightly accentuates the low frequencies, also slightly simplifies the RF, but it does this in moderation, not bringing the idea of "vintage" to hypertrophy. Also on the side of AKS - smaller size and price, so, in my opinion, the only reason to recommend OCUB - additional inputs and dubious implementation of Bluetooth.
CEntrance DACPortable . While I have not yet visited the review of the new BlueDAC - "portabl" - the best sound device from CEntrance in my collection. In general, CEntrance offers an absolutely opposite supply: neutral, detailed, with a bias in the monitor. Plus on the side of CEntrance support of modern bloat type DSD and hayreza, of the minuses - a higher price.
Compatibility
The power in this small case is hidden with a good margin, so the AKS1305P is very versatile, it easily shakes even fairly tight models, and the gain switch allows using it with the IEM, although the most sensitive models will still make a little noise.
The characteristic design of the HF makes this model an excellent option for vintage recordings and various not very well-recorded "strings," but other styles sound quite nice if you like such a presentation. To the quality of recording the device is fairly tolerant, on a 10-point scale somewhere around 6 points.
Several tracks in the role of examples
Robert Plant - The May Queen . Fresh Plant's solo shows that Robert still perfectly understands how to write nice hearing hits. "Opener" of this album as if specially created for the hero of today's review - a powerful percussion, emotional vocals - in what this DAC is strong.
Gustav Holst - Mars, The Bringer Of War (Boston Symphony Orchestra) . The composition, inspired by countless rockers and metalists, is also an excellent option for unlocking the potential of the AKS1305. Of course, for the symphonic classics I would like a slightly larger imaginary scene, but that drive that the AKS kid gives out makes you forget about all these audiophile queries and just enjoy what is happening.
Threshold - Snowblind . Well, since we started talking about metal above, do not leave this collection without something heavy, but beautiful at the same time. All these requirements perfectly correspond to the fresh work of the progressive classics. A pleasant "background", lyrical vocals, "matching" HF - as a result, an optimal combination is obtained.
conclusions
An unusual device with a pleasant sound and a good reserve of power. Of course, the need for a separate transport makes it less universal, but there are still no modern players with a similar sound and affordable price. Therefore, for connoisseurs of such a submission option AKS DAC + something like Cayin N3 is a very good option.
The article is based on materials .
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